That would be great. But Ford's idea nowadays would be to just take an Escape and slap 'Bronco' on it.

 

The pre 2011 Explorer has more maneuverability than a Expy, which makes it better on tight trails. I have a cabin with a long steep rocky trail. My '91 Explorer performed flawlessly. I was planning on getting a new Explorer in a couple years, but not now.

 

unibody is a ok IDEA, but in all reality, ive seen old fords with rust holes all over the body and still driving down the road fine, now when your body is your frame, the rust could be a serious structure problem.

 

Unibody would not work in a pick-up. The engineering cost required to have the same stiffness as a frame would be greatly expensive. And more costly to service if something got tweaked.

And what is a Motorcoach exactly?

 

I think that if Ford is going to kill the Explorer, they need to at least have the respect to get a new name for the cross over that replaces it.

In a head on crash with a 2010 Crown vic and an 1989 Escort, what would you rather be in?

How about we run a 2010 CV into a 2010 Taurus. Than which would you rather be in?

 

In a head on crash with a x wing fighter and a tie fighter, what would you rather be in?

 

Good job picking two cars of entirely different class. My example of Taurus vs Galaxie consists of a similar class - large sedan.

Decide for yourself:

IIHS-HLDI: Large family cars - Current Models

 

Motorcoach:




As to the pickup, depending on what class. A Ranger or F150, sure. An F350, difficult, but doable. F550 above, forget it. Their main purpose is to have multiple implements anyway.

A lot of austrailian utes are unibody, and have similar capacities to light pickups.

 

The Taurus X was cancelled two years ago, it never sold worth a hoot.

Sales of Explorers have dropped off dramatically ever since the rollover/Firestone tire debacle...which gave Explorer a horrid reputation.

In fact, over the past two years, there were more Jeep Grand Cherokee's sold then Explorers. The last time that previously occured was in 1991.

The Explorer is ancient...old, old, old. The same basic structure dates back to 1991. And...it's far older than that...when you consider it was originally derived from the Bronco II introduced in 1984.

And...the Bronco II was derived from the Ranger, engineered and styled in the late 1970's and introduced in March 1982 as a 1983 model.

The bottom line is...sales of the current Explorer are in the toilet. Ford had to do something, either cancel it, or redesign it.

btw: Did'ja know that in 1961/63, Ford offered the F100/250 2WD Unit-Bodied (so called Uni) Styleside pickup? Unit Body in this case meant the cab was integral with the bed, but it was body on frame construction.

Ford was forced by the Gov't to cancel the Uni mid-model year 1963. When the frame flexed, the doors POPPED OPEN and people fell oughtta the cabs! Seat belts (lap only) were optional back then, most trucks did not have any.

All 1960/71 Ranchero's were true unit bodies...the chassis was integral with the body with a stub frame up front for the powertrain to bolt to.

 

So your saying that even the previous generation Explorer was too big for your cabin road? The '91 is pretty small compared to the 2010 model. I'm still not getting your argument.

 

'Expy' is short for Expedition. Another Ford site I frequent everybody calls them that. Sorry for the confusion.

I'm just saying that the Explorer, size-wise, is a better trail SUV than the Expedition because the Expedition can't fit around things like an Explorer can. Tight turns and such.

 

I don't think the outgoing (2010) Explorer has any major mechanical similarities to the first gen Explorer or Bronco II. The frame was all new in 2002 for the first total redesign. My brother has an '03 and the frame is totally different than my '91 was.

I'm sure sales were down because it was an older design, but lets not forget the economic turmoil as well. People still want traditional SUV's, despite what the government wants us to drive. If the economy finally improves, people will be looking to buy what they want again. And unfortunately, Ford won't have it.

I thought Ford stopped making them because the bedsides crinkled when they were loaded down?

 

Correct the 02'up is completely different than the previous 2 gens. The 4.0l SOHC and 5 speed auto were carried over to the 02'.

 

I guess you guys were all pretty ticked off when the Explorer went from the TTB to the IFS. After all, change is bad.

Ford is trying attract the people who buy the high end SUV's like Lexus for instance. Ford has returned to profitability and they are building what the masses are buying.

I just sold my '88 F-150. Everything on the truck is manual and that's what I like. Since '97, the F-150's are totally different. It's taken me this long to get my head wrapped around no locking hubs, push button 4x4, IFS, CV axles, no manual tranny, etc.

After all my complaining and whining, I've determined that these trucks are not only pretty rugged but pretty damned reliable too. I'm getting a brand spanking new 2011 F-150 next year.

You will come to realize that this change is good. I'd suggest you all restore your old Explorers or go buy a Jeep. Truth be known, I'd prefer an old CJ.

 

"People still want traditional SUV's, despite what the government wants us to drive. "

Sorry, but you are just plain wrong. Far fewer people want traditional SUV's than did 5-10 years ago. Sure, the Explorer was getting to be an old design but sales were down 80 PERCENT and you can't blame that on the poor economy when other model's sales are only down 20% or in some cases even up. I don'ts see sales of the Escape dropping 80%, in fact they are at an all time high, and it has been built on the exact same platform since 2001. Sales of all manufacturer's traditional SUV's have dropped big time -look at sales over the past 5 years for the Explorer, Trailblazer, Tahoe, 4Runner, XTerra, Pathfinder, Armada, etc. Times change, you can depend on it, and manufacturers who don't change disappear. Ford will never again sell 1 million F-series trucks in a year.

10 years ago the Hummer 2 was all the rage. Then sales dropped to hundreds per month. Tastes change, times change. The minivan market used to be 2 million per year but now it is less than 1 million. Times changes and tastes change.